Preoperational testing of data link-based air traffic management systems in Magadan, far East Russia

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used in many ways which were unimagined by its original planners and implementers. This paper discusses one such application; the surveillance of commercial aircraft in a developing airspace environment. GPS provides system users with the ability to determine their own position with an accuracy, reliability and cost that is unprecedented. Voice procedures augmented by radar have been the primary tools for air traffic surveillance since the end of World War II. But for some countries the equipage of aircraft with GPS and a data link capable of carrying position reports to the ATC authorities is providing a viable alternative to long-range secondary radar systems. In the summer and fail of 1995, ARINC installed and demonstrated equipment in Magadan, Russia which permits air traffic controllers of MagadanAeroControl to monitor GPS position reports generated by aircraft as far away as Canada and the South Pacific. The position reports were displayed against maps and flight tracks. This equipment has clearly demonstrated an alternative technology for the upgrading of the ATC system in Siberia and other remote areas.